Samsung’s 2019 smart TVs will allow consumers to browse the web, access their PCs and even edit work documents from the comfort of their living room couch. The company previewed a new feature dubbed Remote Access this week, which integrates both Samsung’s own Knox security framework as well as remote access software from VMWare.

Samsung stopped short on revealing key details about Remote Access. It did disclose that Remote Access will make it possible to remotely access a PC from a TV, which then seems to function as a gateway to the web, as well as a way to play PC-based games.

CREDIT: Courtesy of Samsung

To use Remote Access, consumers won’t have to just rely on their TV remote controls. Instead, it will also work with a keyboard, mouse, and other input devices. These may come in handy when consumers access what Samsung vaguely described as a “web browser-based cloud office service” to “access files and work on documents.”

“Samsung is committed to creating an intuitive and convenient user experience for consumers,” said the executive vice president of the company’s visual display business Hyogun Lee in a statement. “With Remote Access, consumers will be able to easily access various programs, apps and cloud services installed on multiple connected devices directly through their TV screen.”

Whether consumers really want another screen to access work documents is another question, and the idea of using a keyboard on the couch didn’t exactly catch on in the past either. Still, without additional details, it’s hard to judge who Samsung is even targeting with this new feature.

The company is expected to demo Remote Access at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas next month, where it will introduce its 2019 TV line-up in earnest. Variety was first to report that the company’s 2019 TVs are expected to also include access to the Google Assistant, and may also offer better audio quality powered by HomePod-like smart tuning features.

Sign Up for Daily Insider Newsletter

Comcast said it would unveil “Flex,” a hub for its Internet-only customers that allows them to stream and purchase shows and movies, the latest effort by a traditional cable provider to latch on to customers who are migrating to broadband services, The Philadelphia cable giant will also make free, ad-supported services available via the service, [...]

Splice, a favorite of music creators that allows access to a library of three million rights-cleared sounds, announced today that the company closed a Series C funding round at $57.5 million. That brings Splice’s total amount raised to roughly $102 million since its launch in 2013. It raised a Series B in November of 2017. [...]

Facebook is now in the awards hunt: Its popular original series “Red Table Talk” hosted by Jada Pinkett Smith was nominated for a 2019 Daytime Emmy. It appears to be the first-ever Daytime Emmy Awards nomination for a Facebook-funded show, although a company rep was unable to confirm that. “Red Table Talk” is nominated in [...]

Amazon has launched MLB.TV on Prime Video Channels for Prime members in the U.S., just in time for the start of Major League Baseball’s 2019 regular season start next week. The MLB.TV package provides regular-season out-of-market baseball games, both live and on-demand. Prime members in the U.S. can subscribe to MLB.TV for $24.99 per month, [...]

Proving that good is not always good enough, Tencent Music Entertainment shares fell 9 percent after the Chinese company released its 2018 earnings, wiping out $2.7 billion in market capitalization of what is arguably the biggest audio music service in the world. Chalk it up to big expectations and a short track record: Wednesday’s earnings [...]

UPDATED, 3/21: The back-and-forth battle for YouTube’s No. 1 spot continues. T-Series on Thursday again pulled ahead of YouTube’s PewDiePie as the No. 1 most-subscribed channel on the platform — coming a day after T-Series briefly topped the vlogger-gamer-comedian and renewing fans’ support him. In a months-long symbolic running battle for the title, PewDiePie and his [...]

Netflix is getting ready to try a new thing to help younger viewers discover new shows: The video service will start testing character-driven video previews of some of its shows later this year, executives revealed during a press event in Los Angeles Tuesday. The test, which will be rolled out on some members’ TV devices [...]